Belle Wong: writer, reader, creativity junkie

Saturday Random: Decluttering, Cleaning, Dejunking, and a Bad Haircut

I have an unexpected Saturday today—it’s a long weekend here and Dylan doesn’t have any dance classes today. I figured I’d relax today but when I woke up I got bitten by the decluttering bug.

Which was surprising, because when I was composing my list of current nonfiction reads, I’d totally forgotten about Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which is also on my to-red list.

Even though I haven’t read it yet, I remembered from reading other reviews of it that one of the questions Kondo urges you to ask when decluttering is, do you love it?

So I tried to do that as I went through the clothes in my chest of drawers. I ended up with two reusable shopping bags full of clothes to give away, and lots of room now in drawers which I previously dreaded reaching into, even though it was required if I wanted to get dressed for the day (another good reason to declare a pajama day, I always think).

Some interesting things I learned:

For someone who is always lamenting about not exercising, I have a LOT of exercise wear. I kept them all. Call it wishful dressing, if you like.

I haven’t gained as much weight as I’d been thinking. I tried on all of my cropped pants, and they all fit except for one pair which had been too small for me last year. Hurray for that!

********

Every few years I go through this, and I wish I’d remember to Just. Not. Do. It.

What am I talking about? Getting my hair cut short. I normally wear my hair long, but every now and then, especially if I’ve not been that diligent about getting my hair trimmed, I get tired of the long, lanky mess of hair and decide I’m going to get it cut short. And every time I do this, I deeply, deeply regret it.

I’m now sporting this wedgy bobby thing that’s longer in the front, shorter in the back and I hate it. So today I’ve been trying to focus on being grateful that my hair grows fast (about an inch every three to four weeks).

On the bright side, I was helping my daughter move into her new place yesterday and her new roommate’s mother, on being introduced to me by Hayley as, “This is my mom, Belle”, exclaimed, “Oh!” and then laughed. It turned out she’d thought I was Hayley’s friend.

So I guess the cut makes me look younger. But it doesn’t suit me at all.

Stop me, too, if/WHEN I start yapping about getting my hair cut. I always feel like I need a hair cut. I hate my bangs but I absolutely hate hair in my face so they are annoying. BUT my hair grows towards my face and looks horrid when I pull it back. Can’t win.
and, I’m sure you look adorable. Oh, are we of an age we shouldn’t be looking ‘adorable’? Ok, I bet you look classy. 😉

You need to send me a pic of your hair. I am thinking of cutting mine too. My hair is long and blunt right now. Pretty boring but safe. I can do lots with it but don’t. I’ve been volunteering at church and a lot of the women have this clavicle length long bob thing with slightly a slightly angled front (longer front) but the back is still long, not wedgy. I feel like my hair loses shape quickly with this blunt cut. I used to have long layers which worked best for my round face but I got tired of the shortish front pieces that kept doing their own thing.

I just got Kondo’s book but haven’t started reading it yet. It is, rather ironicaly, currently helping clutter up the top of my bookshelf/nightstand. I’m curious to see what changes I can make. I tried to darken my hair once when I was in my mid-20s as a desperate attempt to get people to take me a little more seriously at work and while I got tons of compliments it just wasn’t me. I got a little start every time I looked in the mirror!

Oh! I know what you mean about hair! I keep my hair cut short, but I often get the desire to dye it. Every time I do, I hate it. I seem to forget that fact and start thinking about dyeing it every few years. Right now, I’m itching to be a redhead. . .

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I'm a writer, avid reader, artist-at-heart & book indexer. I blog about writing, books, art, creativity, spirituality, & the power of the imagination. Oh, and I like to write stuff about life in general, too!

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." - Stephen King

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